University of Western Australia scientists have been studying the escape of GM canola seeds into the wild since a ban on growing the crop was lifted in WA in 2009.

ABC Rural: Clint Jasper

West Australian scientists say escape of genetically modified herbicide-resistant seeds into native bushland and roadsides can occur, but it is an easily manageable situation.

Publishing in the journal Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, the University of Western Australia's Australian Herbicide Resistance Initiative's Professor Stephen Powles and Dr Roberto Busi studied populations of escaped seeds.

The seeds were in two areas of native bushland where GM canola had blown from in-paddock windrows, and on a roadside where seed had spilt from a truck near a grain receival site in Perth's eastern suburbs.

The researchers knew from previous studies in Canada, Europe, Japan and the USA that it was possible for GM canola seeds to establish along roadsides, but no similar work had been done in Australia.

Farmers in Victoria and New South Wales have been growing glyphosate-resistant canola since 2008.

"This study took advantage that in 2009, for the very first time, glyphosate-resistant canola was commercially grown in WA crop fields," the study reported.

From then, researchers spent four years monitoring a site near the wheatbelt town of Quairading, 160km east of Perth, and surveying roadsides near the grain receival site from 2012.

Different herbicide mix key to controlling escaped canola

In one area of native bushland near the Quairading crop, Professor Powles said GM canola completely failed to establish beyond the first generation.

WA researchers have shown it is possible for GM canola seeds to escape from paddocks, but it is unlikely the plants will survive long in the wild.